Kropp: Bryans have loyal fans in Indian Wells

An action-packed day highlighted by the surprising exit of a top player (Andy Roddick) and marathon matches created a unique conclusion to Day 5 of the Pacific Life Open on Sunday night &#8212; two matches involving Ventura County players taking place simultaneously.

As a result, fans hoping they would watch Camarillo's Mike and Bob Bryan play their first-round doubles match and later see Thousand Oaks' Sam Querrey battle Lleyton Hewitt in a night encounter at the Stadium 1 court were forced to choose. Because the first two second-round men's singles matches on Stadium 3 lasted approximately three hours each, the Bryan brothers did not take the court until 9:20 p.m. Sunday, 15 minutes after the Querrey-Hewitt second-rounder began shortly after its scheduled 8:30 p.m start.

Despite the long wait, an enthusiastic crowd, which almost reached capacity when the first ball was struck, greeted the Bryans when they took the court to take on Marcos Baghdatis and Stanislas Wawrinka. The two teams didn't disappoint, producing some incredible shot-making which eventually led to a pressure-packed match tiebreaker.

Finally, at exactly 11 p.m., 38 minutes after Querrey had lost to Hewitt in straight sets, the Bryans had rallied from a set down to capture an 11-9 win in the match tiebreaker.

The Bryans, who won their second-round match and lost in the quarterfinals on Wednesday night, are 15-6 in 2008 &#8212; a good record, but not that far away from being exceptional.

&quot;I feel like we're playing well, but we've lost a couple of heartbreakers,&quot; said Bob Bryan after Sunday's victory. &quot;I think 2007 took a lot out of us because of Davis Cup.&quot;

Four of those heartbreaking losses this year have come in finals, three in the match tiebreakers. The Bryans have played nine match tiebreakers in 2008, losing six. Such is the nature of men's doubles on the ATP Tour, where the margin of victory is quite often razor thin. For example, against Baghdatis and Wawrinka, there were 129 points played &#8212; with the Bryans emerging on top 67-62.

Despite some of the close defeats this season, the Bryans are not losing their focus on the big picture.

&quot;The season is young and there is a lot on the horizon,&quot; Bob Bryan said.

On the immediate horizon will be next weeks Masters Series event in Key Biscayne, Fla.

Pacific Life Open notebook: Querrey put up a respectable showing in his second-round loss to Hewitt, but was unable to seriously threaten the two-time Indian Wells champion. The stat that stood out the most was break-point opportunities. Querrey only had one. Hewitt had eight, cashing in on three of them. Querrey is obviously holding his own in his second full year on the tour, but it takes a while to learn how to break the top players. That's what he will need to do in order to accelerate his rise in the rankings. ... Fans who attend this tournament know the big matches to watch and that was evident Monday when Stadium 2 was packed for the third-round battle between two talented Frechmen &#8212; Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Paul-Henri Mathieu. With the United States playing France in the Davis Cup quarterfinals next month, this match figured to have huge implications on who the French will chose to play singles with Richard Gasquet, who is ranked eighth. Tsonga, who prevailed 7-6, 6-4, will likely be the choice, even though Mathieu (14th) is ranked higher. Tsonga has the bigger serve and is just as dangerous off the ground. ... When asked about the state of American tennis, James Blake offered a persuasive argument in response to the critics. &quot;I think it is pretty good,&quot; Blake said. &quot;We have two players ranked in top 10 (himself at No. 9 and No. 6 Roddick), we're the Davis Cup champions and have the top-ranked doubles team (the Bryans).&quot; Sure, a lot of people will quickly point out no American man has won a Grand Slam since 2003, but there is more to the take into account than just the majors as Blake so eloquently pointed out. ... One of the spectators in attendance at the sold-out day session on Saturday was former U.S. defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Passing shots: Another one of the strong high school boys' teams this season is Oaks Christian. The Lions are 7-0 overall and 5-0 in the Tri-Valley League. Leading the way has been the solid play of the No. 1 doubles team of Eric Hawkins and Michael Lee, who have not lost in three years. No. 1 singles player Sean Levesque, only a sophomore, is unbeaten in his sets this year. Nordhoff is also unbeaten in the Tri-Valley League. ... Channel League rivals Buena and Ventura battled for the first time on Tuesday, with the Cougars prevailing 11-7. Michael Lowe led the way by going 2-0 in singles. The teams play again April 17.